Balticia
Balticia (officially the Sovereignty of Balticia) is a country in Eastern Europe, lying primarily on the Baltic Sea, to the south-east of Scandinavia bordering Poland to its south, Lithuania to its north-east, and Denmark through the small island territory of Bornholm-Ost. De facto founded in 1945, Balticia was originally established as a small buffer state-controlled primarily by Allied United Kingdom and United States prior to the Nazi German downfall. Centring around the two economic powerhouse cities of the former Free City of Danzig, Yags and Danzig, and the former German state of East Prussia with its major city, Königsberg, the region was occupied by allied reserves situated in Sweden, who, after crossing the Baltic Sea, fought numerous bloody battles to seize the territory from an incapacitated German force. Balticia's occupation in 1945 - which also included the modern-day Lithuanian and Polish coastlines as well as parts of Pomerania - was widely attributed to rapid German collapse in the east, who were later encircled by Allied and Soviet troops near Memel in the far north-east of the country. Balticia's occupation was often marked as the start of the Cold War and poor British- and American-Soviet relations. With the Soviet Union setting its sights on multiple regions in line of Balticia - namely German Silesia, Pomerania, and East Brandenburg, as well as the territories directly controlled by the acting Baltician interim government (East Prussia, Memel and Danzig) - the existence of an Allied line of control alienated Soviet presence in the west; Soviet plans for a Communist Eastern Germany and expansive satellite were abandoned. Until 1959, Balticia existed as the allied state of the Sovereignty of the Southern Baltic Union before receiving full independence as an acting nation. After brief poverty wrought by World War II, especially given the mass destruction of its major populations, Balticia experienced mass economic prosperity throughout the mid-20th century, given vast oil deposits to the east of Yags, as well as a labour boon fuelled by heavy Soviet immigration. A population explosion would ensue throughout the 1960s, complete by the merger between Yags and Danzig in its western region solidifying Balticia as a European power. The destruction of Balticia in World War II consisted of; the almost total depopulation of Memel in the north-east, ripped in half by Allies from the west and Soviets from the east in a series of bloody battles trapping remaining German infantry in the city; heavy aerial bombing over Königsberg and a battle for the city; and bombing over Yags and Danzig and a small battle for Eastern Danzig, including heavy damage to the civilian district of Danziger Höhe. History Balticia has existed in its current form de facto since 1945, although it received full independence after allied de-occupation on July 5, 1959. There is no prior history of the region now under Baltician territory ever upholding to Baltician identity. The Gotland Brigade and flank routes of Nazi German former East Prussia (1944-1945) In October 1944, Allied troops began—in allegiance with the Swedish government—military occupation of the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Lead by Colonel Rafferty, who was previously a Royal Air Force commander, the military division, nicknamed the Gotland Brigade, composed some 60,000 infantrymen, mostly British, American, Swedish, and Canadian, and were planning an onland invasion of the former state of East Prussia, controlled by Nazi Germany, as well as the liberation of the area of the Free City of Danzig. After seeing Soviet aggression in the area, Churchill and Roosevelt had mutually agreed that Communist aggression in the region of Eastern Europe had to be quashed, and the economically-powerful cities of Yags and Danzig and strategic port of Königsberg were attractive to both the United Kingdom and United States to have as an ally. Unbeknownst to Moscow, who was informed that the plan would compose a "flank route to accelerate German defeat", the formation of Allied occupation along the South Baltic Coast was actually a bout to ease Soviet control in the area. Nazi Germany's military prowess was already well in decline, and with the power's defeat only inevitable, the landing on November 5, 1944 was a success. The invasion of Memel was mostly one-sided, with little military defense due to the surprise nature of the attack. Allied troops reached a near-uncontested Konigsberg by November 18, 1944, in addition to the occupation of the small Lithuanian coastline and surrounding towns. For the months that ensued, the Allies had pushed for a slow advance into East Prussia. More Nazi German defensive units were arriving, with an army of some 40,000 being mobilised from Berlin into the Yags-Danzig metropolitan area. Despite avid defenses and heavy losses, much of German East Prussia was seized by early 1945. The Red Army had interlinked with the Gotland Brigade near Yags, and, in conjunction with the Royal and U.S. Air Force, began a two-week-long siege of Yags. Defense of the city was futile, and characterised by large mutinies, although the city was almost completely destroyed by the full might of the Allied East. Yags fell in February 1945, as German Battalions continually fell back to Danzig, whose heavily-shelled profile proved a usable defense; notwithstanding, Danzig fell before March 1945, with small infighting between mutinous German troops. As the centre of Danzig fell, the 3rd Belorussian Front, and various Soviet Baltic units diverted from the area at this time, headed to Berlin. The capture of the civilian district in western Danzig, Danziger Höhe, was the last planned operation carried out by the Gotland Brigade, as the Polish city of Gdynia (German: Gdingen) as well as the old Polish coastline would be occupied moreover. Of the 60,000 of the Gotland Brigade, some 54,000 would return home. Of the estimated 25-30,000 German defenders within Memel, East Prussia, and Yags-Danzig, some 21,000 were killed between the duration of the capture of Memel and Danziger Höhe. This captured area would be held by various troops on rotation between 1945-1959, when the region was succeded to the newly-formed Baltician Government. Shortly after VE Day on May 8, 1945, the territories of the Gotland Brigade were officially proclaimed the new state of the Sovereignty of the Southern Baltic Union, which would be governed in cooperation with the British and American governments. Sovereignty of the Southern Baltic Union (1945-1959) During the Conference at Yalta, the plan of an Allied-administered Southern Baltic State, which would comprise roughly the territories of German East Prussia, Lithuanian Memel, and the former Free City of Danzig, was circulated. The notion was approved by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, although it had dismayed Stalin, who wanted to annex approximately the northern region of Balticia to the Soviet Union. However, Stalin was incentivised by the American handling of Japan and territorial trade of Soviet-occupied South Balticia in exchange for a Polish Baltic corridor near Gdynia and parts of Western Lithuania. Ultimately, it was agreed that parts of Franklin Roosevelt's plan would be issued in amalgam with the wishes of Stalin; this was for the territorial losses of East Prussia from Germany, and the division of the remaining Eastern region of Germany from the West. This was to be drawn relative to occupation zones, with planned British and American territories of Germany being redrawn to include Soviet control in the East. Ultimately, East Germany would comprise German Pomerania, Upper Silesia, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia, as well as the Eastern, Soviet sector of Berlin (with the western area becoming an exclave of West Germany, an Allied-administered state). It was also declared that Poland would be partitioned into West and East, the West being Capitalist, the East Socialist, with East Poland comprising the territories west of the Curzon Line. All Prewar Polish territory north of the river Nyoman was partitioned between Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus. West Poland flourished under the new, modern capital of Gdnyia, whose population exploded and would later comprise the Baltic Triangle of Gdnyia, Yags, and Danzig, with the East declining. Upon foundation, Balticia essentially existed as an instrument of the Cold War. The territory was wedged between Soviet-controlled Lithuania and the Soviet satellite state of Poland, and frequent anti-Soviet propaganda was circulated. A heavily-militarised zone was established around the Memel-Lithuanian border, which was urbanised and designated an area of military patrol, a defining image of Cold War relations, which had continually worsened with the existence of Balticia being a factor; both its largely-unanticipated invasion and anti-Soviet political atmosphere heavily dismayed the USSR. The Yalta Agreement on Balticia was more acquiesced by Stalin than agreed upon. Cold War Conduit and Soviet Troubles With the inception of the Truman Doctrine and declining Western-Soviet relations, Balticia only worsened the case. Its existence as a flourishing, Capitalist state surrounded by Soviet Satellite states - and as one the Soviet Union itself was keen to take over after the war - fever and suspicion was heavy in the country. The border with Lithuania became the most heavily-guarded border in the entire world - with both the Soviet Union, which controlled the country, and the newly-independent country building a huge, militarised border to demarcate the essential volta of Communism and Capitalism. Soviet espionage was also believed to have been common in Balticia - meaning much of the Anti-Soviet sentiment was bottled. Many Anti-Communist Baltician speakers were assassinated, with many of the facets to the crimes unbeknown. Likewise, a Baltician spy underworld, conjectured to have the backing of British-based MI5 and American CIA, would operate within the Soviet Union, known for having allegiances as far east as Omsk. Economic Boom Balticia's economy underwent a major boon during the 1960s. Heavy immigration, often illegal, from the Soviet Union and various vassal states such as East Poland and East Germany led to a major population explosion in Balticia, especially to Yags-Danzig, whose population went from 4 million in 1945 to 10 million in 1960 to 14 million in 1970, and with it manufacturing industries came to Yags-Danzig. Car companies, such as Baltician Motors, would arise, soon to rival West German BMW and Volkswagen. Moreover, the chiefly undeveloped Baltician South-East and its virgin soils would be mined, giving Balticia necessary exports it had prior lacked due to low agriculture, mostly as a result of movement from rural towns to Yags-Danzig which happened on a grand scale in the 1920s. Later on, in light of the prosperity, many banks and corrupt individuals mainly from the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia would come to Yags-Danzig for its status as the fastest-growing European city, making it very easy to build up secretive economic empires - which the Baltician government would, knowingly, allow. While Balticia's overall financial position was strong and only getting stronger, Balticia built itself a flawed anomaly of an economy. Balticia's had 17 million people in 1970, 14 million of which lived in Yags-Danzig, holding approximately 82% of the population, and about 89% of the national financial output. Aside from very recent mining in the South-East, Balticia's agricultural exports were in decline. Its other two major cities, Königsberg and Memel, saw slow declines as much of their people would travel to the capital. This economic situation would be characterised by major corruption and bank secrecy which would, in turn, lead to major disputes, and, eventually, the total severing of diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union. This promoted scaremongering with the country, and Balticia saw its national military budget increase to a point unfeasible for an economy of its size and nature. Memel Crisis Throughout the 1950s and 60s, immigration - an act illegal within the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc - from various Soviet Satellite States had been ongoing, aided in part by the Baltician government giving immigrants new identities to help them break free from the Soviet Union. Its rate only climbed, until, in 1972, the Soviet Union would blockade the Lithuanian town of Palanga, its largest coastal settlement, and diplomacy with Balticia would end entirely. The Memel Crisis, as the event was called, saw the partial failure of the 1975 Helsinki Accords, where an agreement especially on grounds of human rights and immigration were never brokered. The USA's relationship with Balticia would also decline, especially after Nixon's open criticism of Balticia's handling of the situation.